TBI charges man in connection with Millersville shooting

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has filed charges against the man involved in a shooting involving Millersville police last month.

Rick Mayers, 50, of Nashville, has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, one count of felony evading arrest, one count of being a convicted felon in unlawful possession of a weapon and one count of possession with intent to deliver a schedule III controlled substance.

On Aug. 15, the Millersville Police Department initiated a traffic stop after receiving information that Mayers had active warrants on file, was in possession of a gun as a convicted felon and was in possession of drugs with the intent to sell.

Officers followed a vehicle along Highway 31 to the Economy Inn after, police say, the driver refused to pull over. Officers said they then had to open fire when that driver, Rick Mayers, waved a gun at them.

Mayers was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was released on Thursday.

He told Channel 4 News the incident began as he was trying to commit suicide after battling pain and an addiction to heroin.

Mayers said he doesn't care if he lives or dies, but he does care about his story. He said he wants everyone to know exactly what happened and what didn't happen.

Mayers, who has a wife and 3-year-old daughter, said the pain from a terrible motorcycle accident led him to heroin, and that led him to want to die.

"I had just decided in my mind that I was so far down, I didn't want to live anymore. I didn't want to live the life of a heroin addict," he said.

Mayers owned a tattoo parlor in the 1990s where he lobbied for stricter regulations, but drugs continued to destroy his businesses and his promise.

He went to jail more than once and said he never wants to go again.

That's why he wants people to know he never fired a shot and never had any intention to hurt any of those officers.

"I didn't point my gun at the officers. It was never fired," he said.

Mayers is hoping a Nashville lawyer will take his case and realize he is more addict than criminal, and that he served well as a drug informant on many big cases. In the end, he says, that should count for something.

Millersville police did not return calls for comment.

The TBI is working to determine whether or not the officers were justified in their use of force.

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